In the electrical trade, junction boxes—small boxes/compartments made of plastic or other materials, with at least one open wall and having entries/apertures defined in other walls—are often installed in buildings at points where electrical wires are to be connected to components such as sockets, switches, outlets, and/or other wires. A junction box is installed at the point where the connection is desired, usually within the building wall or ceiling, by nailing or screwing the junction box to a stud within the wall or ceiling. Multi-wire cable is brought to the junction box and extended through an entry point in a junction box wall to enter the junction box interior. The cable is usually sheathed within a corrugated cover, often formed of a helically wound ribbon of metal or plastic, which serves to protect the wires of the cable while maintaining much of the cable's flexibility.
Since it is often desirable to firmly secure the cable to the junction box at its point of entry, connectors have been developed which engage the corrugated cable cover and the junction box together, and prevent the cable from being easily pulled from the junction box. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,214,247 to Tamm and 6,817,895 to Kiely. However, these often require that the connector be crimped about the cable cover, and/or that a screw or similar fastener be extended through the connector to engage the cable cover. These arrangements can be inconvenient because they require the use of tools to connect the cable to the junction box, and in some instances the connection may need to be performed within tight confines (e.g., within a small hole in a wall), making the operation difficult to perform. Additionally, the need to use tools increases the time needed to install cables within junction boxes, since the steps of inserting and fixing the connector within the junction box, inserting the cable within the connector, obtaining and using a tool to fix the cable within the connector, etc. often require that an electrician or other installer pick items up, set them down, switch them from hand to hand, etc., which can rapidly grow tedious and annoying.
Another drawback of connectors is their cost, which is largely a function of the processes used to manufacture them. Connectors are often made of cast metal or molded plastic, and the casting/molding processes—which must be somewhat precise for a high-quality connector—add cost to the connectors. Connector costs can significantly add to the overall cost of a wiring project, particularly since it is often necessary to use hundreds or thousands of the connectors. Thus, even a small reduction in the manufacturing cost of each connector can result in substantial overall savings.